St. Mihiel (AP-32), launched in October 1920 for the United States Shipping Board by the American International Shipbuilding Corp. Hog Island, Pa., was operated by the United States Army Transportation Corps until mid-1940. Then transferred to the Navy, she was commissioned as St. Mihiel (AP-32) on 22 July 1941, Comdr. Edward B. Rodgers in command.

Having operated as a transport between the west coast and Alaska, with occasional runs to Hawaii prior to her transfer to the Navy, St. Mihiel performed the same duty after commissioning. Into 1943, she called regularly at ports on mainland Alaska and in the eastern Aleutians. In May 1943, she participated in che occupation of Attu; then resumed more routine transport duties.

On 9 September 1943, two days later, she headed south to San Francisco. On the 23d, she steamed west to Hawaii and from there began her last voyage for the United States. Transiting the Panama Canal in mid-October, she steamed on to Boston, where she was decommissioned on 16 November 1943 and returned to the Army which used her as a hospital ship for the remainder of World War II.